Count on Me
by Juliet's Shadow
Summary: Driven mad with grief she manages to kill herself to find her brother who died in the Hunger Games but those departed from us a never really gone, are they? For LawlClan monthly challenge.


I looked out the dirty window repeatedly looking for him. I know I should be working with mother but I just can't, can't accept the fact he's gone. I am twelve years old today, and he was reaped months ago. I didn't expect him not to come back, not to say goodbye. My brother, Steven tells me I'm dumb because I keep looking for him but I know he is there. Why would he leave without a trace? "Madeline!" My head snaps up when I hear my name called. It's Steven. "Madeline, he is dead. We saw him die! He is not coming back." He turns his head away. "He isn't ever going to see us again."

Steven is nineteen, but he was eighteen when he was reaped. He is what we call him. No one can say his name without crying. The last time anyone had said his name was at the funeral, and it was the preacher who spoke it. He was the last one to say his name. Christopher Lucas Hasting, fifteen years old, died at the Hunger Games.

The preacher told me all spirits went somewhere but he didn't know where. We have a book -which we call the Bible because of its ancient name- that told of a place where spirits went after they died. We don't know where that is though. Our last bible in the district is missing pages. The preacher told me the world is still great, we just need an open mind.

The more she thinks, the more she wonders where they were sent. "Mother, I'm going out to see if I can pickpocket some food." I looked across our one room house and she nodded. She knows what the nod means. Don't get in trouble. Don't get hurt. Don't go with Christopher. She walked out the front door without as much as a backwards glance, thinking she might change her mind.

She walked into the bar where several rich people –peacekeepers mostly- sat talking and drinking. She looked at them picking a target. There was a larger man sitting with his feet propped up on the table and a knife in his hand. The knife looked like the one that killed him with one blow in the games. In his pocket he had a brown leather wallet. She took a deep breath and pushed her brown hair behind her ear. She whispered under her breath. "I'm going to find you Christopher, you can count on me." She grabbed his wallet with her quick fingers and got up. She felt a large arm catch her.

"Well, well. Look here boys. Look what I caught. A little bitch we can use in our games tonight. What do you say?" He put her hand on her butt and squeezed it, hard. She struggled and bit the hand of the man. "Oh look! We got ourselves a fighter, boys; we can't have that, can we?"

She continued to fight as she heard the laughs of the men at the market place. Their breaths smelled of smoke and alcohol. "Let me go!" She kept trying to get out of his grasp so she would really piss him off, make him stab her even quicker so she could find him. She then thought about what she had seen in the Hunger Games and what made the men so mad they would usually kill, once they got over their pain, if they got over it. The man picked her up underneath her arms lifting her high above the ground. She swung her legs wildly and hit him right in the balls. He dropped her and doubled over in pain.

"Why you little- Boys," He looked over at the other peacekeepers "Kill this piece of shit." One picked up the knife and slit her throat and killed her the same way the other tribute had killed Christopher. The world started fading and she became very dizzy. The last thing she saw were the men laughing at her pain.

She opened her eyes and saw a cat licking her. "Wake up, Fawnkit. Eaglekit has been waiting for you to wake up. Remember, today your becoming apprentices." The cat was a silver tabby, like the ones that were at the pet shop that she had often looked longingly into. She shook her head and blinked her eyes. _Apprentices? What is that? _It then hit her. _Why is the cat talking? _

"Excuse me; I'm just looking for Christopher." The silver cat blinked her eyes in confusion. "Now excuse me but I really must be going." She tried to stand up but she realized she couldn't reach behind her. She looked at her hands and saw they weren't hands at all, but paws. _Is this what happens to us when we die? We become cats? _Inside popped a head with the same color fur as her, who also was bigger but the same age.

"Fawnkit, hurry up. Rabbitstar just got onto high stone!" He nudged her out of the nest made out of moss and helped her get rid of her bed head.

"Let all cats old enough to run across the moor gather here for a clan meeting." There was a small, pale brown tabby standing on top of a huge stone. His muscles on his legs were highly defined and much like the people of her district. "Eaglekit and Fawnkit have reached their sixth moon and are ready to receive their apprentice names. Eaglekit, from now until you revive your warrior name you will be known as Eaglepaw. Heatherflower, you have been a great mentor to many of our warriors and I know you will pass on your skills to him." A white female cat stepped up and nodded. She had big blue eyes that reminded her of a tribute that was killed in the arena two years ago. She remembered her because she had been Steven's old girlfriend.

The two of them touched nose, leaped down and sat among the cats that were all cheering Eaglepaw's new name. _What kind of place is this? _She heard the booming voice of Rabbitstar again. "From this moment until she receives her warrior name Fawnkit shall be known as Fawnpaw. Stormflash, you are a young warrior but I believe you are ready for your first apprentice. "She looked at the cat, Stormflash. He was brown like her and had a similar muscle shape too. He was looking up at the clouds so she didn't see his eyes. When they touched their noses together he had his eyes closed then turned quickly and leaped down.

She heard the cats call her name and received many congratulations from then but she dismissed them all and looked for Christopher. The silver cat who had spoken to her earlier told her Stormflash was by the entrance, waiting for her. She looked around for the brown fur then ran to him. He motioned for her to follow. When they had traveled far from where they had all gathered he stopped and looked around. They were near the shore of a lake, where the water was brushing against their paws. He let out one word. "Madeline."

"Yes?" The tom looked away and looked at his reflection in the water.

"So it is true, you got reaped and got killed." He splashed his foot down on the water and looked back at her. "I hoped it wouldn't happen, not to you." He started to lick her ears and press his nose to her cheek.

"Christopher?" She looked into his eyes and recognized the same green that was their when they were kids. She pressed her pelt against his and purred. "Christopher I've missed you so much." She looked him in the eyes and told him the thing he probably didn't want to hear. "I wasn't killed in the Hunger Games; I killed myself to find you."

His bright green eyes widened and he slapped the side of her head with his paw. "Why they hell would you do that? You must be crazy!"

"Why wouldn't I do that? I love you and wanted to go back to find my big brother. There must be a way to get back to District 10! Please, I didn't want to go through all this trouble for nothing."

He looked at her. "There is one way. At midnight on a full moon we must offer ourselves to be killed. The condition is we have to defeat a Dark Forest, which is pretty must hell for cats, warrior, and let the fire lead the way back home. I have studied this with Heatherflower, who used to be Kristina, and neither of us knows what the hell the last part means." He turned his back to her. "I'm sorry you sacrificed so much to save me but it was a sacrifice in vain. Besides, here we always have food, shelter and no worries about being killed in the arena. We have no worries about being killed by a knife in the back by an ally. Here, were free."

"We're also away from our family and friends. Have you forgotten about Skye, Joseph and Andy? Or what about Steven and Mother? Did you not come back because you forgot about me? I thought I could count on you!" The cat stormed off running along the border of the lake, past the moor and into the trees, until she came across a tiny tortoiseshell.

"Who are you and what are you doing on ThunderClan territory?" She said between growls.

"I don't understand. ThunderClan territory?" The cat tackled her and pinned her down. For a little scrap of fur she is strong.

"I said who are you and what are you doing on ThunderClan territory?" She looked at her with bright green eyes.

Madeline struggled to get out of her grip, even biting her paw, but didn't manage to get out. "Help!" she screamed but no one came to free her. She sighed and stopped struggling. "I just want to go home." If cats could cry, she would be. She felt the cat soften her grip on her.

"Home? You can go back home without crossing our territory." She said. She looked at her with confusion and tapped her shoulder with her tail and pointed to the direction which she came.

She shook her head knowing the tortoiseshell wouldn't understand. "I'm not from here. I'm not a cat, I'm a human." The cat looked confused at what she said. "You know a creature with no hair on their bodies but on their heads."

Her eyes cleared and she nodded. "You mean you were a twoleg?"

"Yes. I came here to find my brother, Christopher, who you know as Stormflash, so we could return to our home in District 10." She looked into her green eyes and sighed. "I can only go home on a full moon."

The cat nodded the looked to the sky. "I'll help you and go with you. My name is Mossypaw but I don't think I was meant to be here. I have been having dreams about a twoleg female lately and ever since I started having those I don't feel like a warrior of ThunderClan anymore. We better find your brother, full moon is tonight."

They both looked at the setting sun and knew they didn't have much time. They ran past the trees, the stream and the patrol of cats coming after them. They found him with Heatherflower at the shore of the lake. Stormflash was staring at the water as if he was pissed off or really upset. Heatherflower had her tail rested in his shoulder. "Stormflash!" Madeline heard her voice call across the moor. Both cat lifted their heads and ran over to the young cats.

"Sorry, Madeline, you can count on me and I'm going to make up for it by going through this ceremony." He turned his attention to Mossypaw. "Who is this?"

"She wants to be a twoleg and go back to District 10 with us." Stormflash stared the young cat down as I spoke. First anger was in his eyes then sympathy.

"You know what you are getting into, right? A world where your next meal isn't always guaranteed to be there, where you might be selected to fight to the death for entertainment and family means nothing if it means you can be sold for a scrap of food. Are you sure you want to go to a world like that?" Heatherflower was the one who spoke. Her voice hadn't changed from when she had been alive in the Districts.

Mossypaw pondered the question for a moment then nodded. "When is our next meal guaranteed? What if there is a battle and you have to fight? Don't the other clans like watching you struggle for their entertainment? What if there is a fox and it's going for you? Your mother isn't exactly come in and offer herself as fox bait. I'll go with you so my life can have purpose and so I'm not just lost to history. I want to leave the clans so I can have maybe a chance at a remembered life."

I pressed my pelt to hers and licked her ear, which, from what I've observed, is a sign of affection. "Welcome to the family, sis." I purred and smiled as I came up with this next part "Welcome to mystery."

We walked through the hills, going to the moon pool, which is apparently where you can speak to the ancestors of the clans. We walked up a bramble lined, well worn path up to a crystal like pool of water. Mossypaw told us we had to drink from the water to enter the world of dreams so we did.

I awoke surrounded by shadowy trees and a distant glimpse of the moon. It was cold and there was the scent of blood in the air. "Stay close. This looks dangerous." Christopher said. He looked strange, like the cuts he had received in the Hunger Games were returning and dripping with fresh blood, a cut above his eye, a bloody nose and missing teeth. Kristina had blood dripping from her too, coming out of an empty eye socket and a heavy limp.

They looked up and saw them, three huge cats. There was a black one with orange eyes, a cream and ginger one with amber eyes, and a dark brown tabby with ice blue eyes. All had strong muscles rippling under their underfed pelts. "Mossypaw and Madeline, go after the one with pale eyes." Kristina whispered. They nodded and waited until they were given the signal to attack.

When Christopher leaped on the biggest one, the black one, they attacked the one with pale eyes. Mossypaw made his legs fall underneath him and then leaped on his back and bit is neck. Madeline, at the same time, bit is throat. He didn't last long. They looked over to the others, whose luck wasn't so fortunate. Kristina's one eyes was impossible to work with, the cream and ginger she-cat stayed in her blind spot and Christopher's cut above his eye was hindering his sight.

Madeline jumped on the black cats back and bit his neck with enough force to kill him and Mossypaw jumped on the back of the cream and ginger one and did the same. "Thanks." Christopher said.

"Don't mention it. They didn't see us because you were distracting them." A ways off a pillar of fire appeared. Christopher made his way to it and stepped into it. "Christopher! No!" Madeline felt herself get sucked into the vortex it created. It took everything with it and hit her head on a rock causing her to black out.

"Madeline, wake up. Come on, you have to!" She heard the voice of a girl, no older than fifteen call her name. She opened her eyes and saw a tan girl with neat braids in her chocolate brown hair, completing her freckled face. "It's me, Mossypaw."

She brushed her hair out of her face. It was blood stained and burned. "What happened?"

"The vortex had a few side effects." She lifted of her pants leg and revealed a long burn mark. "Were safe now, don't worry. Christopher is already back with Steven and Kristina. They gave me the name Shelby." She held out her hand to help her up. They were finally home, where they belonged. Words flashed through Madeline's head. _Christopher said count on me. I did and were home. _


End file.
